


In the Balance

by AXEe



Series: Family Matters [12]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Project Cadmus, Spoilers for "Homecoming" and "Exodus", new life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 01:38:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10205966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: For everything in nature there is a balance, light and dark, fire and ice.  Life and death





	

**Author's Note:**

> Or how CJ was born, written in protest over the show's treatment of Jeremiah Danvers and their continued insistence on dragging out the arc with Cadmus, just GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!!!!
> 
> Now, OK, here's some timeline for the Family Matters-verse, in My Neighbors the Danvers, I mention that Alex and Astra had been dating for almost three years and married for one, so, assuming they started dating around the end of season one (mid-2016) and then got married three years later (2018) and then had CJ a year after that (2019) then that means that "Family Matters" the 'present' in this verse takes place around 2035-36. anyway, hope that makes sense, and now onwards

******

**DEO headquarters, medical wing  
2019**

Alex gasped as pain lanced through her again, writhing on the cold exam table, silently cursing Cadmus, even though she knew that this was their endgame, that they'd been driven to the point of desperation. With Astra on the DEO's side, and her knowledge on how to lead a terrorist organization, the battles against Cadmus had been ending in a victory for the DEO.

For the past three years, from the moment Cadmus declared open war the DEO been winning almost continuously, especially since--with the end of Myriad--the government had declassified the DEO's existence, giving the public hope that there were other heroes out there, ordinary people like them who put their lives on the line everyday to keep the world safe from groups like Cadmus, meaning that the number of potential recruits that Cadmus had to its anti-alien cause began to drop as the DEO's recruits grew, as more people flocked to the organization that had Supergirl as one of it's members, to the one that promised hope and freedom, not fear and terror.

It was during one of these battles, that they had finally rescued Jeremiah just hours ago, from who they learned that Cadmus was now in the midst of a civil war, two different factions had risen within its ranks, one side siding with Lillian Luthor and her more subtle methods of kidnaping and fear-mongering, and another which was lead by the resurrected cyborg Hank Henshaw who would rather simply kill every alien he came across, the more public the execution the better in his opinion it seemed.

Of course, only minutes after Jeremiah had told them this was when Cadmus had apparently decided to cut its loses and staged an all assault on the DEO, and when nine-month pregnant Alex (who should've been at home resting but had rushed over to see her father) had gone into labor.

Now she and Jeremiah were holed up in the heavily barricaded medical wing as Cadmus' force laid siege to the DEO, neither of them knew which side was attacking, and frankly didn't care, but it seemed they had a purpose, they seemed to--if the security camera footage was any indication--to be making their way towards the medical wing, either after Jeremiah, or worse, Alex and her half-Kryptonian child

"Alex! Breathe! You can do this!" Jeremiah urged as another explosion shook the facility

"I can't!" Alex panted out, where the hell was Kara? She wondered, where was Astra? She needed to be here, she needed to see their child being born

"Yes you can!" Jeremiah barked, he gripped her hand, squeezing tight "you can do this, Alex," he told her "just think, in a few minutes you'll get to meet your baby" he whispered

"I'm glad you're here," she said, gasping as more pain tore through her "I want you to meet my family" she whispered

"I know, I know," Jeremiah said, gently stroking her hair "but I can't do that if you don't _push!_ Now, come on, Alex! Push!" he yelled "that's it" he encouraged as Alex screamed, sobbing as she pushed, pausing to gasp and pant for breath. Gasping at a particularly close explosion

" _Alex, it's Lucy!_ " the radio crackled to life " _we got them boxed in on levels five, six, and seven, but there's a team heading your way_ "

"Major, this is Jeremiah Danvers," Jeremiah snatched up the radio "who's leading that team?"

" _Hank Hensahw_ "

"Damn it! All right, we got something of a situation here, but we'll be fine," he replied, wincing as another explosion wracked the base, the lights flickered and dust fell from the ceiling "if you guys could keep the roof from falling in on us, it'd be nice" he added

" _Will do, doc_ " Lucy chuckled

"Lucy," Alex grabbed the radio "where's Astra?"

" _She's right behind Henshaw's team, knocking their teeth out as they go_ " Lucy replied, Alex felt herself grin, easily imaging Astra tearing through the team from behind, moving like a wraith or ghost, using her superspeed to attack, disappear, and then attack from a completely different direction. Alex jerked as another explosion tore through the base

"That was close" she realized, grabbing her gun, thankful that the alien weapon never needed to be reloaded and could be recharged from virtually any power source

"Never mind that," Jeremiah told her "just concentrate on pushing, ready? One...two...push!" Alex screamed as she pushed again "come on, almost there!" Jeremiah urged "there! I can see the head! Come on, one more, ready? And push!" Alex screamed, silently praying that Astra would get here in time, that she wouldn't miss it "it's out!" Jeremiah laughed as Alex gasped for breath, laughing at the sound of her baby's first cries "it's a girl," Jeremiah announced, laughing "and what a set of pipes on her"

"How sweet" a voice sneered, they both turned, seeing Hank Henshaw, the real Hank Henshaw, standing just inside the doorway. Alex grabbed her gun and fired, but Henshaw dodged, only for something to crash through the wall and kick him through the other wall

"Everyone all right?" Astra asked as she approached the trio

"We're good" Alex panted, reaching for her wife

"Uh, who is this?" Jeremiah asked

"This is Astra, Dad," Alex smiled "my wife"

"Things have changed," Jeremiah stated, he glanced between the two "I take it then that you're the, for lack of a better word, 'father'?" he asked

"I am, yes" she answered, Jeremiah chuckled

"There's no man good enough for Alex, so, I guess its only fitting that it's you" he commented

"She's Kara's aunt too" Alex panted out

"O...K" Jeremiah nodded as something suddenly slammed into him. Astra dove, easily catching the baby as the infant was launched into the air from Henshaw's bodyslam

"I got you, dear one" she whispered, cradling the infant close

"I got her, go," Alex easily scooped the baby out of Astra's arm "help Dad" she ordered, Astra nodded, charging through the demolished wall after Henshaw.

Jeremiah, thanks it his own cybernetically-enhanced arm was holding his own fairly well, but he couldn't last forever. She charged, pummeling Henshaw with the kind of protective fury that only a mother has, Henshaw blocked her next blow, gripping her by the hair and slamming her into another rapidly-crumbling wall, which promptly shattered under the impact

"Get away from her!" Jeremiah lunged, swinging out his enhanced right arm, sweeping Henshaw's leg out from under him, and giving the Astra the time to get to her feet, and for a moment the two of them had the upper hand, as the base burned and crumbled around them, it seemed like they might win this one.

But then, everything changed, Henshaw crawled up to his knees, his enhanced eye suddenly blasting out a laser-like beam of light towards Astra

It never hit her

Because Jeremiah threw himself in front of her, taking the full brunt of the blast

"NO!" Astra lunged, by the time Henshaw had smirked in satisfaction, Astra had scattered his body in three different directions, before rushing back to Jeremiah's side "easy, lie still," she urged "Lucy! I need medics over here NOW!!" she barked into her comm.

" _We're trying, damn it! Cadmus has cut off most of the access points,_ " Lucy snarled over the comm. " _who is it?_ " she asked

"Jeremiah Danvers"

" _Kara's en route_ " Lucy replied, there was a woosh and Kara landed next to her

"Oh god!"

"Tend to him, I'm going to check on Alex" Astra ordered, charging back through the wall to find General Lane and a small contingent of soldiers protectively surrounding Alex, one Cadmus solider lay dead on the floor and two of Lane's men held Lillian Luthor at gunpoint

"Stand down!" Lane ordered as Astra marched in

"What happened?" Alex demanded, Astra shook her head

"I...killed Henshaw...," she stammered out "but...your father...Alex, he doesn't have long"

"Get me over there," Alex snarled, stumbling and staggering off the table "now, Astra!!" Astra shook herself out of her stupor and quickly scooped Alex and the baby up, gliding through the hole in the wall back towards Jeremiah “Dad!” Alex untangled herself from Astra’s grip, somehow managing to keep hold of the baby even as she stumbled and fell towards her father

“Hey, kiddo,” Jeremiah greeted weakly “did we win?” he asked, Alex looked up at Kara who nodded

“There are still some stragglers, but yeah,” she whispered “we won”

“Yeah, Dad,” Alex whispered as she crouched down next to him “we won”

“Good,” he murmured “Alex, I need to you listen to me,” he rasped out, his breathing labored, a distinct _wheeze_ in his words, he was fading fast “you’re going to make mistakes, that’s part of what being a parent is all about,” he began “but no matter what, you _never_ let that little girl forget that she is loved, all right? Promise me that”

“I promise, Dad” she whispered, he nodded

“Astra?” he beckoned her over

“I’m here” she crouched down, taking his hand

“You keep her safe,” he ordered “you protect her, both of them, no matter what”

“I will,” Astra vowed “I’m sorry I couldn’t get to know you better” she whispered

“So am I,” he nodded weakly “but, hey,” he chuckled “at least I got to see my granddaughter”

“Yeah,” Alex whispered “you did, Dad,” she wiped at her eyes “goodbye, Dad, I love you” she whispered

“…love you too…” Jeremiah whispered as his eyes finally closed. For a long moment no on spoke. Finally Astra stood up

[You have been the sun of our lives,] she began tearfully [though you were not of our blood, our prayers will be the sun that lights your journey home. We will remember you every dawn and await the night to join you in the sky. Rao’s will be done]

“Rao’s will be done” Kara repeated softly, for although Jeremiah was not Kryptonian, he was family.

******

Less than fifteen minutes later, the last of Cadmus’ forces had either surrendered or been killed, the DEO had lost dozens, and their desert headquarters was a total loss, damaged beyond repair. As Lillian Luthor was lead out to a waiting hummvee in chains, Alex quietly called out for the guards to stop. Slowly, she approached the other woman, holding out the baby

“Take a look,” she hissed “take a good long look, because this baby is the future, this is what my father _died_ for,” she leaned forward and spat in Lillian’s face “get her out of here!” she ordered as she sank back against Astra and Kara, drawing strength from them as she watched J’onn and Lucy manhandle a few more of Cadmus’ soldiers into waiting trucks

******

“We still haven’t decided on a name yet” Alex muttered as she gently set the baby down in her crib

“We’ll think of something” Astra assured her

“I want her to have ‘Jeremiah’ as a middle name,” Alex vowed “something to remember him by, even though she’ll never meet him”

“Of course, darling,” Astra whispered as she held Alex close “Alex,” she began, frowning “what was Jeremiah’s middle name?”

“His middle name?” Alex frowned “Connor, why?” Astra started to laugh

“That’s perfect” she grinned

“Astra, honey, you’re scaring me”

“No, no, don’t you see?” Astra smiled down at the baby “Connor Jeremiah Danvers” she declared, Alex blinked, slowly repeating the name under her breath, before finally grinning

“That is perfect,” she declared, she leaned into the crib “hi, Connor” she whispered

“Hey, guys,” they both looked up as Kara leaned into the doorway “you guys pick a name yet?” she asked

“Connor Jeremiah Danvers” Astra explained, Kara grinned

“That’s perfect,” she declared “ooh, hey, maybe we can call her ‘CJ’!”

“No, Kara, I’m not calling my daughter, ‘CJ’,” Alex exclaimed “what the hell kind of name is ‘CJ’?”

**END**


End file.
